Chapter 60
by Gideon“Come in.”
“Thank you.”
Yundo bowed politely. A brief silence fell over the room. Hyewan stared at him for a moment before turning to Bora.
“Bora, go to bed.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay alone?”
“The housekeeper is here. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go then. Call me right away if anything happens.”
“I will.”
Yundo stood still as Bora gathered her things and left. Something felt off.
“What am I supposed to know?”
“Hyewan…”
“Have you been drinking?”
“Yeah. A little.”
“If you can’t even stand straight, that’s not ‘a little.’ Did you seriously drink and drive?”
Yundo chuckled.
“That’s our Ko Hyewan. Always such a law-abiding citizen.”
“Cha Yundo. Get it together. This isn’t something to laugh about.”
“Don’t worry. The designated driver drove. I just sat quietly in the back and got out. That’s all.”
He did that part well, but…
“If you called a driver, why didn’t you just go home? Why did you come here? I told you I wouldn’t see you, for the sake of your company and your family.”
“Yeah.”
Yundo was like one of those inflatable tube men at an event. He swayed back and forth, left and right, like a balloon doll caught in a gentle breeze. Watching such a large man sway like that made Hyewan’s head spin.
“Stop that and just sit down.”
“Okay.”
The obedient man plopped down on the hospital floor, completely ignoring the fact that he was wearing an expensive suit. Not there…! Hyewan barely restrained the urge to scream.
“Sit here.”
Yundo obediently sat in the chair Hyewan pointed to.
“My father didn’t die because he was destined for a short life.”
After a long silence, Yundo finally spoke, his voice strained.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Hyewan, the person who killed my father… killed our baby.”
In an instant, Hyewan felt the blood run cold in her veins.
“You mean the car accident wasn’t an accident?”
Yundo calmly revealed the truth. As she listened, Hyewan felt her heart tighten with a suffocating rage.
That person isn’t even human!
“I told my mother and Yun-woo. I thought they deserved to know the truth about my father. But my mother collapsed.”
“Even if it’s hard, they need to know.”
“Right?”
His smile faded.
“Then why do I feel so guilty?”
It was an ending where no one was happy.
“The innocent are all dead, yet the guilty are still alive. Whenever I think about it, I just…!”
He shot to his feet. His eyes were bloodshot, the veins bursting from his suppressed rage. Without thinking, Hyewan grabbed Yundo’s arm. She felt as if something terrible was about to happen.
“Calm down first.”
He didn’t budge.
“I’m still recovering. You’re not supposed to overexert yourself.”
It was a lie. But as if he’d been drawn in by it, Yundo collapsed forward, resting his forehead against her shoulder.
“…I’m sorry.”
His voice sounded faint, like a long sigh.
Hyewan, who had been holding him up, felt her nose tingle. A surge of fury erupted from the depths of her chest. Every emotion she’d felt from the very beginning to this moment finally burst forth.
“Why did you do it?!”
The sudden outburst of rage left her breathless. Hyewan shoved him, her fists striking his chest.
“Why did you do it?!”
As she unleashed her fury, she realized just how much she had been hurting all along.
“At least you should have been honest! You could have just told me!”
Her previous grief had been mourning for the baby. This grief, however, was for herself.
“If you’re going to make me like this, you should at least be happy. What is this? What is all of this?”
Everyone was a miserable victim. Everyone, except for Chairwoman Kang.
“I can’t forgive your grandmother.”
“I know. I know, Hyewan…”
His voice was thick with tears.
Cha Yundo, you must be suffering so much you want to die. You must want to die.
Hyewan couldn’t bring herself to push him off the cliff where he stood. Nor did she have any words to offer.
All she could do was hold him tight.
All she could do was pray that this hellish moment would pass quickly.
Hyewan tightened her arms around Yundo. I hate you. I hate you so much, but what else can I do?
Yundo wept like a child in her arms.
Chairwoman Kang struggled to keep her senses, but the harder she tried, the more her vision blurred. Despite her composed facade, the shock was devastating.
Deok-ho… he was the one who killed my son, my Nam-gyun… I believed the men of the Cha family were just cursed with short lives, that he’d died a senseless death… but it wasn’t true!
As she wrestled with shock, fury, and the question of how to repay Yundo for casting her out, they arrived at the Yangpyeong Villa.
Chairwoman Kang had no idea why she’d been brought here. But the moment she stepped inside, she saw Kang Deok-ho sprawled on the living room floor. The sight of him covered in blood ignited a murderous rage within her.
She rushed to his side and grabbed him by the collar.
“How could you do this?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
Kang Deok-ho shoved Chairwoman Kang, his face twisted with a thug’s brutality, all traces of his former courtesy gone.
“How could you do this to me?” she shrieked. “After everything I did for you!”
“And what did you do for me?” he roared back. “You call that treating me well? You’re the one who spat me out into this world and then threw me away!”
“Is that any excuse to kill your own brother?” she countered. “You monster!”
“The woman who abandons her own child is the real monster!”
As Kang Deok-ho glared at her with sheer audacity, Chairwoman Kang felt her blood pressure skyrocket.
“I did it so we could both survive!” she screamed. “I knew if I succeeded, you’d succeed too!”
“Still spouting that same old line, Auntie?” Kang Deok-ho sneered, his eyes bloodshot with rage. “Look where that got us.”
“You and I, we’ve both got nothing left but to rot in prison.”
“You dare mock me? You think I’ll just take this? I am Kang Ok-seon!”
“You should have just died when your time came. Why did you let your greed get in the way and sacrifice your perfectly fine son?” Kang Deok-ho sneered.
“You didn’t even know that bitch Chief Ma was on my side, did you? You senile old hag! Because of you, a perfectly fine son died, and you killed your own great-grandson. And you lived with your enemy right by your side, completely oblivious.”
“You murderous bastard! How dare you mock me!” Chairwoman Kang shrieked.
Slap!
Kang Deok-ho’s head snapped to the side. He glared at Chairwoman Kang, his eyes burning with madness.
“Who the hell do you think you are, hitting me!”
Enraged, Kang Deok-ho raised his hand. Losing all control, Chairwoman Kang shoved him.
“Uh, uh…!”
Kang Deok-ho, flailing as he lost his balance, fell backward, his head striking the edge of the table.
“Kugh!”
A guttural, animalistic sound escaped him. His body shuddered violently once, then went still. It had all happened in an instant.
“You bastard, what’s wrong?”
Chairwoman Kang panicked as she saw bright red blood spreading across the white marble floor.
She rushed to his side, pressing her hand to his nose. She felt nothing. No breath, no heartbeat. She shook him frantically.
“You bastard! You can’t die like this! Bring my son back to life before you die! Bring him back!”
Her clothes were stained with Kang Deok-ho’s blood. It was a night when a nightmare had become a reality, running rampant.
The temperature plummeted. To make matters worse, a heavy snow began to fall, so Hyewan had strictly told Min-suk and Bora not to come. She didn’t want them to get hurt on a day like this, especially when it was all because of her.
As the night deepened, the wind rattling the windowpanes grew more violent.
My mind is already a mess, and this is just making it worse.
The caregiver approached and asked, “Do you need anything else?”
“No, thank you. You should get some rest too, ma’am.”
“Call me anytime you need anything.”
“I will.”
The caregiver turned to leave but hesitated, then looked back at Hyewan.
“Um…”
“Yes? Is there something you wanted to say?”
“I heard something from the administration office. A man came by and paid all of Hyewan-ssi’s hospital bills.”
Hyewan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”
“The director here is a friend of Bora-ssi’s father, right? That’s why the hospital staff all know you and Bora-ssi.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“That man… they say he comes every night around midnight and sits here for a long time before leaving.”
That man… Cha Yundo.
She didn’t need to hear any more or see him to know it was Yundo.
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